A person cannot be a Liberal Democrat if they take a pro-life position on abortion, the party has suggested in leaked documents.
Former BBC journalist David Campanale is suing the Liberal Democrats for discrimination against his Christian beliefs, including his opposition to abortion, after he was deselected earlier this year despite winning his local selection in Sutton and Cheam.
The leaked documents, seen by the Telegraph, reveal that Campanale was deselected because he “expressed religious beliefs against abortion” which “conflicted with the fundamental values set out” in the party’s governing document.
Campanale has said he was prevented from standing in Sutton and Cheam due to “animosity” by local party members towards his traditional Christian views.
Having previously stood for the Christian People’s Alliance, a political party that has campaigned against abortion, Campanale was accused of failing to sufficiently disclose his views – an accusation he denies.
The Lib Dems’ case against Campanale stated that the party was moving away from the era of former prominent Lib Dems Charles Kennedy and Baroness Shirley Williams, both of whom were pro-life. When Campanale told his replacement Luke Taylor that Kennedy and Williams shared similar beliefs with the ousted candidate, he was told that this era was “over”. The leaked legal document acknowledged this comment, stating: “That was a statement of fact reflecting the current policy platforms and public political stance of the Liberal Democrats”.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey had previously made assurances that he would take on “illiberal” groups who want to remove those with traditional Christian views from the party.
However, it is now unclear whether those with pro-life views can realistically be selected in the future to stand as Lib Dem candidates – especially given the Liberal Democrats’ explanation in the legal document that Campanale’s beliefs “could undermine the party’s ability to gain the confidence of the electorate in the constituency of Sutton and Cheam”.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said the party’s stance on those holding “dissenting views” is “worrying”, adding: “It is not enough to preserve one’s private conscientious judgement, it seems; total agreement in private and in public is demanded”.
He also asked: “Is it now impossible for someone who holds certain moral views to be a candidate for a particular political party, even if they are committed to abiding by their party’s discipline and the results of democratic debate, not campaigning against the party’s position?”.
Speaking of Campanale’s deselection, Lord DavidAlton said: “It smacks of the same prejudiced intolerance that increasingly disrespects conscience and has infected too much of politics and our national life”.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said: “It is deeply worrying that one of the UK’s main political parties does not welcome those with pro-life views and is discriminating against one of its members for holding these views”.““Polling reveals that the British population are far more pro-life than many people think. Only 1% of women support introducing abortion up to birth and 70% of women would support a reduction in the time limit from 24 weeks to 20 weeks or below. 91% of women also oppose sex-selective abortion. The same polling showed 60% of both Conservative and Labour voters supported a reduction in the time limit to 20 weeks or below. 65% of Liberal Democrat voters were in favour of a reduction to 20 weeks or below”.
